Phobias
by SoujaLightFaerie
Summary: Clint Barton has a fear of dolls, clowns, and snakes. When an explosion in the lab sets several snakes loose, the team realizes how deep-seated those fears are. Team fic, Clint-whumpage, Bromance, family, no slash. Teen for language


**Hey ya'll! This is my first Avengers story. This came from thinking about Ghost Adventures and about Zak Bagans fear of snakes and dolls, which got me to thinking about possible scenarios of Clint dealing similar fears. I will be honest. A possible torture method was thought of at some point. Besides, I honestly think there needs to be more Avengers fics with the team getting whumped up and then taking care of each other. **

**For those who wonder, Clint, Tony, and Bruce are my favorites, so any other stories that could possibly pop up while most likely focus on one of these characters though I do try to make it as equal as possible.****  
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**And for those who question the clown phobia: Clint grew up in a circus, surrounded by clowns. Clowns are creepy. I find this highly plausible.  
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**I do not own Avengers. Marvel Studios does. I only like to play in the sandbox and whump up the characters a bit for my pleasure.  
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**I do appreciate constructive criticism, so please read and review. Any flames, I'm sending Hulk's way so he can smash them up.  
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**ENJOY!**

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Phobias

One of the first things that was learned when the Avengers moved in together in Stark Tower (now called Avengers Tower) was Clint's phobias: dolls, clowns, and snakes. Really, the only person before the Avengers who knew about Clint's fears was Natasha. Sure Fury and Coulson knew, but Fury knew everything that went on with his agents and Coulson knew by proxy since he was Fury's right-hand-man. Other than that, no one else in SHIELD knew because master assassins aren't supposed to fear anything and phobias are simply too easy for villains to exploit.

When the Avengers found out (from a supposed team-bonding game of Truth or Dare-Steve may have suggested it, but Clint still placed the blame on Tony. Only Tony would think of a sleepover party game to use as a team bonding exercise.), it quickly became an inside joke. Snarky comments were made (Tony), rubber snakes were placed inside cupboards tied with string or in his underwear drawer (Tony), and the occasional Raggedy-Andy doll showed up mysteriously on his pillow, staring down at him (Steve and Natasha, though he figured Tony had a hand in it; Tony always had a hand in any pranks he didn't directly pull himself). Bruce even made a few clown comments to see if he could get Clint to shudder (which he never did thank you very much. He will go to his grave saying it was because he was cold). But jokes aside, phobias are real and it was an unwritten rule to never mention them outside the Tower whenever possible and Tony made sure to never take his pranks too far, which Clint appreciated. Even then, he knew that not even Natasha, who had been his partner for years, knew how deep-seated his fears were. At least until one huge mishap in one of the labs.

It hadn't started out as a big thing either. Bruce had mentioned earlier that week to Clint that he was bringing some snakes into the lab. He wanted to run tests on them because something about that space snakes from the invasion fascinated both him and Tony and they wanted to try to replicate the armor or something. Clint wasn't quite sure because he got lost in the science babble but Bruce just wanted to warn him and let him know that the snakes would be properly caged up and the lab would be sealed up when no one was in there to ensure they didn't escape into the Tower. "They won't be long there either, Clint. Maybe a week, maximum two," Bruce added, Tony nodding in agreement behind his partner. Clint remembered feeling a rush of relief and gratitude that his new friends and teammates were taking such precautions because of his phobia.

He had even surprised both scientists when he showed up in the lab that evening to check them out. Surprised them even further when he asked Bruce to get one out for him to hold. "Are you sure, Clint?"

"Yeah. Can't let my fears keep me from seeing what my friends are doing and keep them from blowing our home up."

"So you're conquering your fears?"

"Working on it."

"Alright, just try and relax. These snakes are non-venomous and extremely docile. They get handled everyday so they're really nice," he remembered Bruce sooth as the doctor carefully placed one of the bull snakes into the assassins waiting hands. His honest first instinct was to drop the damn thing and run out of the lab, but he stood his ground. Well, more like froze with paralyzing fear.

"Easy Clint, just relax," Tony coached, walking up next his friend and squeezing his shoulder.

"Do you want me to take it away? Is it too much?" If anyone knew the definition of paralyzing fear besides Clint, it would be Bruce. Clint's head screamed _"YES!"_ but he simply shook his head no.

"J-J-Just help," he whispered, staring at the slithering creature with wide eyes, any mask of being tough long gone. This wasn't about being tough, this was about trying to conquer a small part of his ophiophobia.

"Just relax, Legolas," Tony murmured, using the informal nickname to throw off the archer. It worked briefly; Clint turned his head to glare at the billionaire and Bruce took that moment to guide Clint's trembling hands around the snake so it wouldn't fall. When Clint realized what was happening, he tensed up again, but slowly relaxed under his friends' coaching and slowly began to handle the snake by himself. After a few minutes, he carefully gave the snake back and sat down near the workstation, still shaking but drained of energy. But he felt accomplished. Every day for about a week after that, he'd come in and hold the little female snake or else simply watch his friends handle the snakes. The fear was slowly ebbing away, replacing it with an uneasy peace about the snakes. That's why what happened a few days after the snakes were brought in surprised and scared everyone involved, especially Clint.

Natasha and Steve were at SHIELD doing a de-briefing on Tony and Bruce's progress and Thor was Asgard, doing what whatever the demi-god did there. Clint had walked into the lab to watch Tony and Bruce at work to find only Tony at work in the lab. "Where's Bruce?"

"Went to the second floor to get the engineering on the armor plates those space snakes were wearing."

"I see." Tony glanced up to find Clint watching the little female in the aquarium.

"You want to hold her again?" Clint shook his head no, content on just watching her. The two men stayed in silence for a while. It was about ten minutes when Clint heard an exasperated growl and glanced over to find a frustrated Tony.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Bruce should've been back by now with those print-outs. I can't go on with the testing of the armor movement without it!"

"Maybe he got hung up with something. There have been quite a few science chicks checking him out lately," Clint pointed out. Tony grinned; he knew and has been teasing his "science bro" for two weeks about it.

"True. I'll give him five more minutes before I get send JARVIS on his ass. By the way, speaking of science girls, have you seen that new agent at HQ-"

"TONY!" Clint warned as Tony's hand gestured around, accidentally knocking over several chemicals they were using for testing, but weren't sure how volatile they were when mixed. The beakers crashed and the chemicals started to sizzle on the ground.

"Shit, CLINT GET DOWN!" Before Clint could find cover, the chemicals exploded, sending him and Tony in different directions. Clint was slammed into the workstation behind him, his head slamming into the metal shelf. Black filled his eyes for a moment before his vision cleared, only to see stars, no lights except for the red alarm flashes, and the blown up lab. He could faintly see Tony laying prone on the ground, his arc reactor still lit up, his chest still moving up and down. But it was what he felt and saw next that sent him into a panic.

His eyes widened and his breathing became erratic as he saw and felt the snakes that were once safe inside the aquariums now scattered and slithering on the ground around him. He watched them move over the debris and glass. It was when they started slithering over his legs his body became paralyzed.

"Tony? Tony!" he whimpered, trying to will his body to move but his phobia had taken over his body, leaving him prone and to the mercy of the angry and frightened creatures. He wanted to run, he wanted to get up off the damn floor and run and check on Tony and get them both out and away from the lab. But he couldn't. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't fucking do a thing except watch the reptiles slither over his legs and waist and pray to God, any god really, that he didn't piss his pants.

"TONY! TONY, WAKE UP YOU MOTHER F-!" The rest of his curse died on his lips as one of the snakes decided to slither up his torso and investigate the heat source that was sending loud vibrations through the ground and reeking in adrenaline-induced fear.

"TONY! CLINT!" Clint's head swiveled towards the door. He could see Bruce jabbing on the keypad with no avail; JARVIS had locked the doors to contain the explosion.

"BRUCE!" Clint screamed, his voice three octaves higher and cracking. Bruce paused for a second and found the archer on the ground frozen. His eyes widened. He heard him screaming and now he could see why. He could feel the Hulk rattling on the bars, wanting out, wanting to go in and save his teammates from their distress, but Bruce knew it would do more harm than good.

_No stop! Not now! Let me handle it! _"JARVIS, OVERRIDE THE CONTAINMENT SYSTEM!"

"But sir-"

"DO IT, DAMMIT!" Within seconds, the doors opened and Bruce bolted inside and violently threw the snakes away from his teammate. To hell if they belonged to SHIELD or not, he had to get the panicked marksman to focus so they could help Tony, who was still knocked out.

"Clint, Clint, look at me. Focus bro. Focus. It's me, I'm here, they're gone. They're gone," he tried to soothe, feeling the man tremble violently.

"No, no, I can hear them, they're around, I can hear them," Clint sobbed, his voice cracking further.

"No, no, don't focus on that. You have to focus on me. Tune them out, Clint. You have too. Come on, bro, I need you to help me get Tony up and out of here."

"I can't-I can't move. Bruce, I can't breathe. I can't breathe!"

"Shh, shh, take deep breaths, Clint. Like I know Nat showed you before. Deep breaths Clint, focus, in and out," he coached softly. Both men heard Tony moan as he stirred.

"What the hell-Clint?"

"Tony, get your ass over here! Clint's gone into a panic attack!"

"What?"

"The snakes, dammit!" Bruce heard his partner curse and scramble over to them. Tony knelt down, and turned the slightly younger man's gaze towards him.

"Tony?" Clint whispered. "I screamed for you, but you wouldn't wake-"

"Shh, I'm right here, bro. I'm right here. It's okay, we got you. We got your back. It's okay," he whispered, his heart breaking at the blue eyes that had darkened with fear.

"I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, they-they-"Clint started to hyperventilate again at the thought of the snakes climbing all over him and realizing they were still loose somewhere. Tony wrapped his arms around the panicked marksman, to hell with personal space. His teammate, his friend, his partner in prank crime, his _brother_ was having a fucking panic attack and it was his fault because he knocked over the damn beakers containing the chemicals and got them into this fucking mess in the first place and it honestly scared him to death to see Clint in state because Clint was normally a laid-back guy with a mischievous line a mile wide that was hidden behind the mask of a SHIELD agent and he didn't realize how deep-seated his phobias went. He didn't think any of them did.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. We're here. Breathe babe, just breathe," Tony soothed.

"Tony, we need to get him and you out of here," Bruce whispered. The other genius nodded. "Can you walk and hold him between us?" Bruce couldn't quite tell in the lighting, but he was positive he could see blood trickling from his hairline.

"Oh sure, not like I didn't fly two feet and hit the ground and get knocked out for ten minutes," Tony snarked, smirking when Clint giggled a bit.

"A lot like Mythbusters," Clint's voice cracked. He was still panicked but he latched onto Tony's distraction tightly.

"Please, Mythbusters ain't got shit on my explosion skills."

"Tony," Bruce sighed. He understood Tony only wanted to get Clint's mind off the situation before they hauled him out of here, but he was pretty sure he saw one of the snakes nearby and he wasn't sure exactly what blew up and he needed to get Clint and Tony cleaned up and assess their injuries.

"Yeah, I'll try. Come on, Legolas. Let's get the hell out of here." Tony and Bruce each slung an arm around their necks and carefully hoisted Clint to his feet. They slowly walked their way to the door; Tony limping on what Bruce presumed was a sprained ankle from the blast. Clint whimpered when he saw a snake slither in front of them, his heart rate speeding up again and his gait stuttered.

"Easy Clint, don't look at the snake. Focus on the door bro. Focus on my voice and keep walking. That's it," Bruce coached since Tony was concentrating on his own walking. When they finally got to the door, JARVIS opened it enough for the three of them to get through then closed it quickly to contain the mess and the snakes inside.

The three of them finally made it to the apartment floor and deposited Clint in a chair. Bruce scrambled for the first aid kit as Tony sat in a chair next to Clint, propping his foot up on another chair and proceeded to keep him awake. He could see the panic attack and concussion was making Clint fade fast, so he shook him awake.

"Clint, you need to stay up man. Come on, wake up."

"Mm, Tony?" Clint murmured.

"Yeah?"

"The snakes gone?"

"Snakes are still in the lab. But we're in the apartment and you need to stay awake."

"I know. Just tired."

"Yeah, panic attacks do that."

"How is he?" Bruce asked, coming back with the kit.

"He's fading fast. We're going to have to keep him up for a while."

"We will. He's got a pretty good sized gash in the back of his head. It's going to need stitches. I don't want to use anesthesia or morphine with the concussion. He'll have to go dry."

"That'll keep him up."

"Yeah it will. Come on, Clint, stay with me."

"I am," the man murmured, hissing when Bruce cleaned up the wound and scrabbling for a handhold on the table as the doctor started sewing up the gasp, whispering apologies the entire time. Tony grabbed his friend's hand, barely wincing at the death grip on it. Seven stitches later, Bruce moved onto Tony, both men talking to Clint about anything and everything. After that, the three of them moved to the couch and started to watch any movies they could think of to keep them awake and avoided any with snakes in them. Clint had enough of snakes for a lifetime. After a couple movies, Tony and Clint faded away to sleep, Clint laying across Tony and Bruce's laps, curled up in the big, heavy blanket that was used for when one or more of them were sick and/or injured. Bruce watched his brothers sleep before allowing his eyes to close as well. That was how Natasha and Steve found them, both panicked when they saw the blown up lab and R & D people trying to round up the snakes that were loose. They decided not to bother them, waiting until morning to hear what happened.

The next day found the team, minus Clint and Tony, cleaning up the lab. Tony and Bruce figured on starting their research over again, minus the snakes. They could figure out the armor question without them. During cleanup and about a week after, Clint avoided the fourth floor altogether like the plague. Bruce had transported the snakes back to SHIELD that very same day and Tony managed to find any movies, especially horror movies, that had to do with snakes and chucked them in the garbage. He nearly got his head kicked in though when he tried to throw out Natasha's copy of Chamber of Secrets in his frenzy to get rid of anything "snakeish." The two argued so loudly, Clint had to step in and tell Tony that Chamber of Secrets was not, in fact, going to send him into a panic attack, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

Tony's pranks and jokes about Clint's phobias lessened quite a bit as well, realizing how deep his phobias affected him. At least until Clint got tired of the eggshells and pranked Tony with the rubber snake in the cupboard. After that, things went back to the normal chaos. Clint's phobias and the others different quirks remained as inside jokes for the team and no one mentioned anything about the phobias or the explosion outside of the Tower.

Clint still found ways to try and conquer his phobias, determined to not let them paralyze him as they did in the lab. At an interview not long after the accident, found Clint faced with the choice of holding a ball python. He still froze a little when the snake was transferred into his hands, but with Bruce and Steve backing him up, he was able to clamp down on his fear and handle the snake for ten minutes. He was shaking in the green room afterward, but he didn't feel as vulnerable with his team huddled around him.

Sitting in that green room, curled up on the couch with Natasha and Tony and Bruce, Steve, and Thor surrounding them, he realized somewhere in between the time of the invasion and today, he had gained five brothers as well as Natasha (though, he was still trying to figure out his feelings for the red-headed assassin. The woman could send him into a fucking tailspin with only a look). They were a family. Through thick and thin, they had his back.

And he had theirs.


End file.
